Reed for wind instruments



Oct. 12, 1537. G. LEBLANC 2,095,605

REED FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Filed Aug. 21, 1935 x X X x Ge roes Z125 Zazzc Patented Oct. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application August 21, 1935, Serial No. 37,248

c, In France August 24, 1934 Claims.

As is well known, wind instruments such as clarinets or saxophones are provided with a vibrating reed constituted by a thin, resilient tongue of cane, wood or metal fastened at one end 5 to the mouthpiece of the instrument over an air opening and set in vibration by the breath of the player.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a reed adaptable to the beak of wind instruments such as Clarinets or saxophones and having such a shape or outline as to possess no excess of vibratory'material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a reed for wind instruments, the vibrating or beating portion of which is so shaped or cut as to lessen its inertia to such an extent as to facilitate the emission of the sounds while rendering the same more precise, better and neater.

A still further object of the invention is to provide for use on wind instruments such as clarinets or saxophones a reed the striking or beating portion of which has such a shape relative to its still or non-vibratory portion secured to the reed block or other fixture over the usual air opening as to possess substantially no dead zone so far as its vibratory power is concerned.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a reed for wind instruments capable of adapting itself better to the air opening and of giving smoother, mellower and more homogeneous and more intense tones without requiring additional breathing stress on the part of the instrument player.

With these and such other objects in view as 5 will incidentally appear hereafter, the invention comprises the novel features of construction of the improved reed that will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing illustrating suitable embodi- 40 ments of the same and forming a part of the present disclosure.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view of a constructional form of reed according to the invention showing to 5 what extent the vibratory portion differs in outline or contour relative to the subjacent air opening.

Figure 2 is a view, somewhat in perspective; showing how the improved reed as shown in Fig- 5 ure 1 is mounted on the mouthpiece of a wind instrument such as a clarinet.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are views showing three further constructional forms of the improved reed.

In each of these figures, the lower portion of 55 the reed which is relatively thick and is not intended to vibrate is designated by A while its upper portion which is thinner and intended to vibrate under the breath of the instrument player is'designated by P. The dotted line L indicates the approximate contour of the air opening '5 formed in the mouthpiece or beak B of the musical instrument (see Figure 2).

In the improved reed according to the inven-' tion, there is no dead zone since the contour of the vibratory portion P follows in substantial l0 equidistancy or parallelism the contour of the air opening L. In other terms, the shape of the vibratory portion P of the reed is substantially homothetic to the shape of the air opening L. This is clearly visible from Figures 1, 3, 4 and 5 15 which show different embodiments of the invention.

The shape or contour of the vibratory portion P of the reed being thus defined, it will be seen from the above-cited figures that the general out- 20 line of the reed may vary without departing from the invention and sacrificing the aforesaid advantages.

In Figures 1 and 5, a shoulder is provided at the junction of the side edges of the non-vibratory 25 portion A and each of the side edges of the vibratory portion P, and this double shoulder defines a pair of notches which may be defined by two straight lines (as in Figure 1) or by a curved line and a straight line (as in Figure 5). These 30 shoulders or indentations obviously materially eliminate the tendency to a vibratory dead zone adjacent the part A of the reed.

In Figure 3, the non-vibratory portion A of the reed has the shape of a rectangle the width of which is equal to the base or adjacent end of the vibratory portion P the contour of which follows the contour of the air opening L.

In Figure 4, the non-vibratory portion A of the reed has a trapezoidal shape and its sides define very large obtuse angles in conjunction with the corresponding sides of the vibratory portion P.

As an example of how the invention may be carried out into practice, and reference being made to Figure 1, assuming the reed to be adapted for use on a B flat soprano clarinet, the following sizes may be adopted with advantage: length of the vibratory portion P: 33 millimeters; width of the portion P at its upper end: 13.2 millimeters; width of the portion P at its lower end adjacent the portion A: 9.5 millimeters, the sizes of the air opening L being as follows: length: 32 millimeters, top width: 12 millimeters, bottom width: 8.5 millimeters. In other words, the amount of lO able size extends around the air opening L. It

is clearly visible that the contour of the vibratory portion P of the reed follows the contour of said opening L in close parallelism, throughout its length for the purpose set forth;

Due to the novel construction and shape of the improved reed, its vibratory portion P is more easily set in vibration for a given breathing stress exerted by the player because said portion P comprises no dead zone and has less inertia.

What is claimed is:

1. A reed for use on wind instruments of the type having its mouth-piece formed with an air opening, said reed including a plain non-vibratory portion to be removably secured to the 25 mouth-piece and a vibratory portion whose free peripheral outline tapers from its free end and uniformly overlaps the contour of said air opening, the outlines of the vibratory and non-vibratory portions forming at their meeting ends sym- 30 metrical re-entrant junctures on both side edges of the reed so as to reduce the material at said junctures to thereby avoid a vibratory dead zone.

' 2.'A reed for use on Wind instruments of the type having its mouth-piece formed with an air 35 opening, said reed including .a plain non-vibratory portion to be removably secured to the mouth-piece and a vibratory portion whose free peripheral outline tapers from its free end and uniformly overlaps the contour of said air open 40 ing in substantial parallelism thereto, the outlines .of the vibratory and non-vibratory portions forming at their meeting ends symmetrical reentrant junctures on both side edges of the reed so as to reduce the material at said junctures to thereby avoid a vibratory dead zone.

3. A reed for. use on wind instruments of the type having its mouth-piece formed with an air opening, said reed including a plain non-vibratory portion to be removably secured to the mouth-piece and a vibratory portion having its free peripheral outline tapering from its free end slightly overlapping the contour of said air opening in substantial parallelism thereto, the outlines of the vibratory and non-vibratory portions forming at their meeting ends symmetrical inwardly directed angular junctures on both sides of the reed so as to reduce the material at said junctures to thereby avoid a vibratory dead zone.

4. A reed for use on wind instruments of the type having its mouth-piece formed with an air opening, said reed including a plain non-vibratory portion to be removably secured to the mouth-piece and a vibratory portion having its free peripheral outline tapering from its free end and slightly overlapping the contour of said air opening in substantial parallelism thereto, the outlines of the vibratory and non-vibratory portions joining in a re-entrant way to define symmetrical recessed junctureson bothsides of the reed so as to reduce the material at said junctures to thereby avoid a vibratory dead zone.

5. A reed for use on wind instruments of the type having its mouth-piece formed with an air opening, said reed including a plain non-vibratory portion to be removably secured to the mouth-piece and a vibratory portion having its free peripheral outline tapering from its free end and slightly and substantially uniformly overlapping the contour of said air opening, the outlines of the vibratory and non-vibratory portions joining in a re-entrant way to define symmetrical notches at their junctures on both side edges of the reed so as to reduce the material at said junctures to thereby avoid a vibratory dead zone.

GEORGES LEBLANC. 

